Episcopal News Service

[Episcopal News Service – Austin, Texas] Much happens each day during General Convention. To complement Episcopal News Service’s primary coverage, we have collected some additional news items from July 12.

‘Everything is going okay’ despite record number of resolutions

Full ENS coverage of the 79th meeting of General Convention is available here.

The 79th General Convention is moving through a record 502 resolutions, but House of Deputies Parliamentarian Bryan Krislock told his colleagues at the opening of the morning legislative session July12 that “everything is going okay.”

“We have every expectation that we will complete our business before the close of convention tomorrow and have enough time to discuss the very serious issues and resolutions that are before this house,” Krislock said.

Krislock said that “most of the time” in the sessions has been spent dealing with procedural issues, points of order and parliamentary inquiries rather than actual debate on resolutions. He projected a graph on the large screens in the house to illustrate his point.

House of Deputies Parliamentarian Bryan Krislock offers a visual explanation July 12 of how to consider the efficiency of debate. Photo: Mary Frances Schjonberg/Episcopal News Service

“Once the debate starts, it really moves rather smoothly,” he said.

Meanwhile, the House of Bishops spent the first 90 minutes of the two-and-a-half-hour morning legislative session completing its legislative calendar and then was waiting on resolutions from the deputies.

If the pace in the House of Deputies slows down too much, Kryslock said, the parliamentarians and the house’s committee on dispatch, which manages the flow of resolutions to the floor, will present a plan to the deputies for picking up the pace.

In a related move, Jennings told the house just after Kryslock finished his remarks that she was limiting committee reports on legislation to three minutes.

-Mary Frances Schjonberg

GoFundMe site created to raise money for Cuban clergy pensions

In her testimony delivered during the House of Bishop’s July 10 legislative session where bishops voted unanimously to admit the Episcopal Church in Cuba as a diocese, former Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori pointed out that if each Episcopalian gave 50 cents, the church could fund the gap in Cuba’s pension plan. Utah Bishop ScottB. Hayashi responded saying he would up it to $1 for every person in his diocese.

Since then, the Rev. Nic Mather, an associate at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Spokane, Washington, created a GoFundMe page with a goal of raising $5,000 to fund pensions for the Cuban clergy, who’ve forgone both institutional and governmental pensions to serve the church.

Both houses of the 79th General Convention met in rare evening-into-night sessions on July 11. With 501 resolutions pending at one point, the presiding officers decided that bishops and deputies had some work to do.

The Episcopal Church knows how to light up the night: parliamentary and legislative work in both Houses until 9:30 p.m. #gcafterdark

Upstairs in the House of Bishops, the word “punchy” could be heard being murmured around the floor.

As the bishops reached the end of their legislative calendar of a handful of resolutions about 9 p.m. as they were getting ready for closing prayers, there was a lightness and palpable relief in the room.

Meanwhile, back downstairs in deputies, tweeting was going strong.

The Diocese of Oklahoma decided that it could at least achieve some efficiency in meal planning by visiting the famous and increasingly craved output from nearby Voodoo Donuts.

[Episcopal News Service – Austin, Texas] Three days ago, Native Alaskan Bernadette Demientieff appeared at joint session of the 79th General Convention and spoke about the destruction of the Gwich’in way of life, now threatened by drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

On July 12, the House of Bishops received “with open and broken hearts the witness of Bernadette Demientieff to the struggle and plight of the Gwich’in people” by unanimously passing Resolution X023.

The Gwich’in have “have been imperiled by the threat of drilling in the ‘Sacred Place Where Life Begins’” on the coastal plans of the wildlife refuge, the resolution said. In approving the resolution, the bishops also affirmed the Episcopal Church’s “historic solidarity with the Gwich’in people in opposing any drilling” in the refuge.

Full ENS coverage of the 79th meeting of General Convention is available here.

Demientieff spoke on July 10 during one of three TEConversations held at joint sessions of General Convention, each focusing a specific priority: racial reconciliation, evangelism and care of creation.

“We are not asking for jobs, not asking for schools, we are asking for the respect to live as we always have and keep our identity as Gwich’in,” she said in her appearance before the House of Bishops and House of Deputies.

To the Gwich’in, the refuge is sacred. Their existence has for centuries depended on the Porcupine caribou, whose calving ground lies within the refuge’s coastal plain.

Energy companies view the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, particularly its 1.5 million-acre coastal plain, as a potential oil and natural gas bonanza. This conflict has fueled for more than 30 years a contentious debate over whether this coastal plain should be opened to oil drilling or kept as unspoiled habitat.

In December 2017, the Trump administration and congressional Republicans opened the refuge to oil exploration. In April this year, a first step was taken toward allowing drilling.

Even in times of food shortage and starvation, the Gwich’in haven’t gone into coastal plain, which they consider “the sacred place where life begins,” said Demientieff. After high school, she drifted away from her Gwich’in identity, only to recover it later in life and use her voice to speak for future generations and the animals that cannot speak for themselves.

The resolution, proposed by Bishop Wendell Gibbs of Michigan, also asked Episcopalians to “use prayer, advocacy, public witness and legal means to prevent the desecration of ‘The Sacred Place Where Life Begins’” and the destruction of the Porcupine caribou herd and the Gwich’in people.

— Mike Patterson is a San Antonio-based freelance writer and correspondent for the Episcopal News Service. He is a member of ENS General Convention reporting team and can be reached at rmp231@gmail.com.

[Anglican Communion News Service] The Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, has visited a number of Anglican churches as part of his annual summer tour of the country. The Prince of Wales is a title traditionally – but not always – given to the eldest son and heir of the British Monarch. It is largely ceremonial and carries no constitutional authority. In his tour this year Prince Charles visited two churches in St. David’s Diocese and one in St. Asaph, which has within its churchyard a Yew Tree thought to be 5,000 years old.

In St. David’s Diocese, he visited St. Jerome’s Church in Llangwm, near Haverfordwest. Here he saw an award-winning tapestry depicting Llangwm’s links with its historic Flemish past and, along with his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, presented an award to parishioner Pam Hunt, whose vision gave rise to the project, in recognize of its imaginative use of digital technology.

[Anglican Communion News Service] The Church of Ceylon’s Diocese of Colombo has launched a major environmental protection scheme which will see 20,000 trees planted on a single day in 2019. A “trial run” will see 2000 trees planted on 24 September 2018 ahead of the main Plant Trees, Plant Life event on 14 September 2019. A whole range of organizations are taking part in the event, including churches, the diocesan youth department, church schools, the Mothers’ Union and the government’s forestry department – the Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment.

“Why ‘Plant Trees?’”, the Diocese said on its Facebook page, “We plant trees as an act of obedience to God. This makes it a spiritual experience. Being concerned for our environment is being concerned for what God cares for.”

Already, some 100 trees were planted when the event was launched last month on World Environmental day – 5 June – at St Thomas’ College in Mount Lavinia. Churches across the diocese also planted trees on that day in preparation for the main event in 2019.

[Episcopal News Service – Austin, Texas] The House of Bishops made a “technical amendment” before approving a resolution meant to give all Episcopalians the ability to be married by their priests in their home churches.

Full ENS coverage of the 79th meeting of General Convention is available here.

The House of Deputies, which had overwhelmingly approved a heavily amended version of Resolution B012 on July 9, now must reconsider the resolution and debate the amendment. General Convention resolutions must be adopted by both houses with the same texts.

The bishops’ amendment does not change B012’s goal of giving full access to two trial-use marriage rites for same-sex and opposite-sex couples approved by the 2015 meeting of General Convention (via Resolution A054). B012 began in response to Resolution A085 from General Convention’s Task Force on the Study of Marriage, which was proposed in part to give a way for Episcopalians to use the rites in eight dioceses of the church’s 101 domestic dioceses in which the diocesan bishop refuses to authorize use of the trial-use marriage rites.

Resolution A054-2015 said that clergy could only use the rites under the direction of their bishop. The original version of B012 would have required bishops who would not authorize the rights to allow any congregations to receive Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight (DEPO) from another bishop who would provide access to the liturgies.

Deputies agreed to a version of B012 that took away the DEPO option and placed the decision-making power for using the rites with rectors or other clergy in charge of congregations. The bishops’ amendment comes in the seventh resolve of the resolution and adds the words “provided that nothing in this resolve narrows the authority of the rector or priest-in-charge (Canon III.9.6(a)).”

Chicago Bishop Jeff Lee said the addition was made “simply to make clear as we can that this resolution is not in conflict with the provisions of the ministry canons of the church regarding the authority of rector or priest in charge of congregations. It’s a very, in some ways, technical amendment, but we thought it was important in consultation with the chancellors to add it.”

In the debate that followed, the amendment was left behind as 12 of the 13 bishops who rose to speak supported passage of the resolution. Some were adamant in their support, some were reluctant in their support for sometimes opposing reasons while Albany Bishop William Love was adamant in his opposition.

Western New York Bishop Bill Franklin said he supported the resolution “because it moves us another step away from the situation of separate but equal to which we have often consigned our LGBTQ sisters and brothers.”

Rhode Island Bishop Nick Knisely, one of the three bishops who offered the original B012, said even the heavily amended form of the resolution that came from deputies still gives the bishops who will not authorize the use of the rites a way to feel “fully a part of this church.” Moreover, he said, much of the testimony in legislative committee hearings portrayed the resolution as “a way forward. I don’t think this is a permanent a way forward, but this buys us time.”

New York Assistant Bishop Mary Glasspool speaks to her colleagues in the House of Bishops July 11 during their debate on Resolution B012. Photo: Mary Frances SChjonberg/Episcopal News Service

Time, he said, could allow the church to do what the previous speaker said ought to happen. “I don’t think we have unwrapped the gift of gay and lesbian relationships and really celebrated them,” said New York Assistant Bishop Mary Glasspool. “It’s time not only to support marriage equality, but to honor the gift that many of my brothers and sisters are.” Their partnerships ought to be celebrated “the way we celebrate other partnerships in this church.”

Bishop Dan Martins of Springfield, one of the eight bishops who will not authorize the rites, said he would support B012 and was “immensely and seriously grateful” for its compromise. That said, Martin told the house he was “taking my gratitude with a side of Valium because I am deeply concerned” that removing the bishop’s ability to act as the chief liturgical officer and “chief teacher” in the diocese will begin to “erode the sacramental relationship between a bishop and a diocese.”

Bishops were limited to two minutes at the microphone. However, Love of Albany spoke for nearly 10 minutes, despite being told that he was exceeding his time. He said the passage of B012 would put him in the awkward position of violating parts of his ordination vows.

“There has been a lot of discussion as we have struggled with this issue over the past several years on whether or not sexual intimacy within that of a same-sex couple was appropriate,” he said. “There are many in this church who have proclaimed that it is and that this is a new thing that the Holy Spirit is revealing and that the Episcopal Church is being prophetic in putting this forward and ultimately the rest of the body of Christ will come to understand that.”

“I don’t believe, presiding bishop, that that’s necessarily true.”

Love added that the church has listened to people’s personal experiences and “to feelings, their emotions, but we have not had an honest look at, sir, at what God has said about this issue and how best to help people who find themselves in same-sex relationships.”

Idaho Bishop Brian Thom, who served on the Task Force for the Study of Marriage and the committee that reviewed the resolutions, said he supported the resolution with reservations. “The strongest message we received was not about ecclesiology,” he said.

“The most pastoral thing that was being asked for and, for me that most valuable, was that folks just wanted to be married at home,” he said, referring to situation where bishops tell same-sex couples they must go to a different diocese and be married by a priest who is a stranger to them.

“I’m convinced by that,” he said. “My heart breaks for those folks who have not been able to do that, but now they can, and rectors and bishops have a space.”

“This is the right move that allows us all to go forward and, while I feel I have thrown with my votes for B012 my LGBT brothers and sisters under the bus, there is now a way forward for them to be married where they want to be married — at home. And all of you who have stood at an altar before a couple like that know how important that is. So, for them, I am going to vote in favor of this.”

[Episcopal News Service – Austin, Texas] In an overwhelming voice vote, the House of Deputies on July 11 concurred with a plan for liturgical and Prayer Book revision that had been adopted by the House of Bishops the day before.

This sets the stage for creation of new liturgical texts to respond to the needs of Episcopalians across the church while continuing to use the Book of Common Prayer that was adopted in 1979.

Resolution A068 originally called for the start of a process that would lead to a fully revised prayer book in 2030. The bishops instead adopted a plan for “liturgical and prayer book revision for the future of God’s mission through the Episcopal branch of the Jesus movement.”

The bishops’ amended resolution calls for bishops to engage worshipping communities in their dioceses in experimentation and creation of alternative liturgical texts and they will submit them to a new Task Force on Liturgical and Prayer Book Revision to be appointed by the presiding bishop and the president of the House of Deputies.

It also says that liturgical revision will utilize inclusive and expansive language and imagery for humanity and divinity, and will incorporate understanding, appreciation and care of God’s creation.

The Rev. Sam Candler, deputy from Atlanta and one of the chairs of the committee that considered the original version of A068, asked the House of Deputies to concur with the action of the House of Bishops. He acknowledged that doing so would not give deputies everything they had wanted when they had voted on July 7 for expanded prayer book revision in the original A068.

Candler said that deputies were proud to have sent a “strong and vigorous resolution on revision of the Book of Common Prayer” to the House of Bishops and that they “heard us and responded with a process for prayer book and liturgical revision.” Concurring with the bishops would “move the process forward,” he said. “The church is always reforming,” he added. “Our prayer is always reforming. We are excited to be part of that.”

One line in the bishop’s proposal prompted questions in the House of Deputies. The resolution “memorializes” the 1979 Book of Common Prayer “as a prayer book of the church preserving the psalter, liturgies, the Lambeth Quadrilateral, Historic Documents, and [its] trinitarian formularies.”

Deputies asked what was meant by the word memorialize. Candler said the word didn’t appear in the rules of General Convention or the House of Deputies, so he was relying on a dictionary definition that means “to commemorate.” He added, “I trust it is a word that commemorates what the Book of Common Prayer is.”

– Melodie Woerman is director of communications for the Diocese of Kansas and is a member of the ENS General Convention reporting team.

Representing Navy, Army and Air Force Chaplains Corps, these military chaplains care for the spiritual needs of those who serve in their respective branches of the military. Pictured from left: Paul Minor, Army; William Alford, Navy; Jen Pilat, Navy chaplain candidate; Carl Wright, bishop suffragan for the armed services and federal ministries, Air Force, retired; Aaron Davis, Army; Leslie Nuñez Steffensen, canon to Bishop Wright and former Navy officer; Andrea Baker, Army; Aristotle Rivera, Air Force. Photo: Brian Baker

[Episcopal News Service – Austin, Texas] Ask the Rt. Rev. Carl W. Wright, bishop suffragan for the Armed Forces and Federal Ministries, about the military chaplains he shepherds, and he will tell you, “Our chaplains are on the front lines of the Jesus Movement – we are the original missionaries!”

Wright served as a chaplain in the Air Force for 20 years. Now he heads the office that oversees chaplaincy programs for all branches of the military (active, reserve and National Guard), veterans hospitals, federal prisons, Civil Air Patrol, and the chaplain candidate program, as well as the Distinguished Faith Group Leader program for lay and ordained ministry.

Zac’s Story

The black Labrador retriever seen padding around the 79th General Convention was trained as a PTSD service dog by a male inmate in the Puppies Behind Bars program. In 2014 Zac joined Chaplain Maj. Andrea Baker’s chaplain ministry in Afghanistan and is now “as much a chaplain to me as I am to others.” Zac’s presence “facilitates conversations,” said Baker, and helps her recharge.

While Zac is Baker’s partner in ministry, it is his namesake’s story that bears witness. Airman 1st Class Zachary Cuddeback, 21, was killed in action in Germany in 2011. Baker named her partner Zac in Cuddeback’s honor. In 2017 Baker was stationed at U.S. Army Garrison Stuttgart, Germany, when she and dog Zac met Robert Cuddeback at the annual run for Zac at Ramstein Air Base. There’s more. Baker was called upon to perform the dignified transfer of remains, which is done at the airplane on the airstrip. The bus that took Baker to the plane was named for Zac Cuddeback.

Chaplain Maj. Andrea Baker, a priest and chaplain recruiter for the U.S. Army said, “This military is a diverse environment and ultimately it’s an environment in which you have to have implicit trust in one another. Even if you disagree with someone’s opinion, you still trust they have your back. It’s a great place to be an Episcopal priest.”

The work chaplains do is highly valued and an integral part of military life. Col. Vicki Wyan, U.S. Army, retired, served for 40 years in both active and reserve units. “All the chaplains I ever met, whether in theater or stateside, were people dedicated to serving the needs of those who serve,” Wyan said. “So much of what they do is intangible; it helps those who are doing the heavy lifting – the soldiers, officers and their families – through the day-to-day life of being in the service.”

Baker agrees that chaplains, much like those in military medical and dental units, serve a critical supporting role. “You can be a pacifist [and be a chaplain]. We do not carry weapons. I can do this ethically because we need service members who are grounded and who have the support they need when they need it.” Baker explained that chaplains are part of a Unit Ministry Team; they do not work alone. In the Army the chaplain works with a Religious Affairs Specialist or non-commissioned officer who is the “soldier.”

Navy chaplain William Alford, who also serves as rector of St. James’ Church, Parkton, Maryland, says that becoming a chaplain was a life-long ambition. “I finally got to the place where all the stars aligned, and the governor of Ohio gave me a waiver so I could serve [in the Navy] again,” Alford said. “The interaction with ships’ personnel is rewarding. A chaplain’s mission is fairly similar to that of a parish priest in that sailors and officers have issues the same as parishioners,” Alford said.

Being a rector and a chaplain offers the opportunity to raise awareness of the ministry. Chaplain Paul Minor is a member of the Massachusetts National Guard and co-rector of All Saints’ Church, Belmont, Massachusetts. Minor said, “I show up in my dress uniform at diocesan convention to remind people that we have chaplains doing this work. Some people like it; some people struggle with it. There are a lot of similarities in both worlds and I enjoy them both.”

An Air Force chaplain recruiter stationed at Randolph Air Force Base, San Antonio, Chaplain Hank Hahn has a directive from the chief of chaplains to “pay attention to denominations like the Episcopal Church that are underrepresented in the Air Force Chaplain Corps.” Hahn is a Presbyterian priest who “has been to lots of General Conventions, and this one has been very impressive. Everyone is warm and fun-loving; it’s been a great time.”

Baker says that the Army is also seeking diversity in its Chaplains Corps. Mandates such as the “combat exclusion policy,” which allows for women to serve in every capacity, increases the need for representation of women in the corps. Only a “handful” of women chaplains currently serve in the Army.

A 2011 graduate of Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Baker has attended the 79thGeneral Convention with “associate chaplain” Zac, her trained PTSD service dog, representing the Army. As part of her work Baker attends conventions and meetings of religious faiths and traditions across the spectrum, with the exception of Roman Catholic and Orthodox orders that are recruited by other recruiting stations. Building community partnerships with seminaries and meeting with bishops raise awareness of the need for chaplains.

The first step in the process in becoming a military chaplain is for the priest to meet with a chaplain recruiter from the desired branch of service. Seminarians are encouraged to apply as well, although in most cases two years of post-seminary experience in a congregational setting is required. The candidate must be endorsed by their bishop and the bishop of the armed forces and federal ministries to be granted the title “chaplain.” The background checks and vetting process are extensive and the candidate needs to be physically fit.

Being a military chaplain is a calling to serve those who serve. “It’s a ministry of presence,” Baker said. “I meet amazing people and travel to some amazing places. I think it’s the coolest ministry there is.”

Sandra Montes performing during the July 7 Austin revival. Photo: Courtney Thompson/Diocese of Upper South Carolina

[Episcopal News Service – Austin, Texas] Throughout the 79th General Convention, Sandra Montes has been one of the leading voices witnessing on behalf of immigrants. She speaks from firsthand experience.

In addition to her powerful testimony at legislative sessions, she’s also impressed the convention with her beautiful singing.

A native of Peru, Montes spent her childhood in Guatemala before her parents moved with her to the United States where her father served as an evangelical pastor. After a stop in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, they eventually settled in Houston in the 1980s.

“I call it luck that we didn’t have to go through what others have gone through to get here,” Montes said in an interview with the Episcopal News Service. Those fleeing to the U.S. now are “running to stay alive. People come here out of desperation.”

The General Convention is considering several resolutions that provide broad, forceful statements on the issues of separation of families in immigrant detention, the sanctuary church movement and the dignity of immigrants in the face of federal policies that deputies and bishops say go against the Episcopal Church’s Christian values.

Full ENS coverage of the 79th meeting of General Convention is available here.

In considering the resolutions, Montes urged the bishops and deputies to show compassion to the immigrants who are trying to enter the country. “We as Christians have been told to love everyone,” she said. “That means to be compassionate.”

On July 8, Montes was also among 1,000 Episcopalians to gather at the T. Don Hutto Detention Center in Taylor, Texas, to speak against the actions of the U.S. government in its enforcement of immigration policies that have separated families over the last few months.

“Today is my son’s birthday, and if he had ever been taken from me, I don’t know what I would have done … just because I was trying to bring him somewhere where he could have liberty, where he could have a life,” she said at the rally.

“For me, it’s very important that these women” being held at the center know we are here, she said. “I cannot even put into words the desperation I would feel if I were in there and my child were somewhere else. Or even if he was with me, just because we want something better, we’re looking for freedom.”

After they arrived in Houston, Montes’ father was eventually ordained as an Episcopal priest and served as rector of Iglesia Episcopal San Mateo, one of the largest all-Latino churches in the Episcopal Church. Though now retired, he helps at a Lutheran Church in Houston.

Her brother, the Rev. Alex Montes-Vela, is chair of the Texas deputies and serves as a priest at St. Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church in Manor, Texas, which began with five people meeting in his home in 2010. Her niece, Luz Montes, is also a Texas deputy and attends the Seminary of the Southwest with plans to be ordained as an Episcopal priest.

Her father believed that “God had called our whole family to ministry,” she said.

Montes spent a career as a public school teacher before retiring. She now assists the Episcopal Church Foundation as a Spanish language resource consultant, a position in which she assists the foundation in developing practical resources on issues addressing the leadership and financial challenges facing Spanish-speaking Episcopal congregations, develops and leads presentations for online and other educational events and collaborates with foundation staff to develop greater capacity in this area.

She has been approached during the convention by those seeking her assistance in developing bilingual resources for their own dioceses and churches.

In addition to being an advocate for immigrants, Montes fired up the audience with a powerful performance prior to Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s sermon at a July 7 revival. She also sang during the rally held outside the Hutto Detention Center in Taylor.

Never professionally trained in voice or music, she enjoys singing and writing her own songs. “My mom says I was born singing,” she said.

At home, Montes said she does not attend a specific church. As a Latino wearing purple hair, she admits that she stands out – but is on a mission to learn how welcoming a congregation is when she walks through the door.

“What I do now is that I visit different churches and blog about them, how welcoming they are,” she said. At some all-white churches she attends, “nobody says ‘hi’ to me. There are some that are very, very welcoming, friendly and helpful.”

Based on her experiences, she offers a few pointers for making visitors feel welcome, such as having parking spaces reserved for visitors, smiles and cleanliness. “One of the biggest things that I really appreciate is that if they ask me to stay for coffee and either take me and stay with me or give me to somebody else,” she said.

She said she’s had mixed emotions while attending the General Convention, starting with the opening Eucharist. “On stage were white women dressed in African clothing playing drums,” she said, explaining that this was an unfortunate cultural appropriation.

Whites, she said, don’t realize the impression this may leave with African-Americans, Native Americans, Latinos or Asians. “I don’t know what message that’s giving, but I know what I thought,” she said.

Also missing at the convention has been a diversity of music and performers. “The music has been great but it has not been diverse. We are still very white,” she said.

Nevertheless, she said, “I love this church. I love Jesus above everything. I am so grateful I am part of it. Because I know this church, I know we can be better. It all comes from love.”

She admits that she may sometimes get angry, but said “I try to be the voice for the people who don’t have a voice.”

— Mike Patterson is a San Antonio-based freelance writer and correspondent for the Episcopal News Service. He is a member of ENS General Convention reporting team and can be reached at rmp231@gmail.com.

The budget’s introduction said the plan reflects the presiding bishop’s priorities of evangelism, racial reconciliation and justice, and creation care. The priorities have been referred to as the “three pillars” of the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement.

The budget proposes spending on the church’s three priorities this way:

Nearly $10.4 million in racial reconciliation work.

$5.2 million on evangelism. “There has been talk that the proposed budget cuts resources for church planting,” PB&F Chair Deputy Barbara Miles said. “This is not true. The budget [in that category] remains steady at $3 million.

Some $1 million on care of creation

Bishop Steve Lane of Maine and Barbara Miles, deputy from Washington, present the proposed budget during a joint session of the House of Bishops and House of Deputies. Lane is chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance and Miles is the vice chair. Photo: Mike Patterson/Episcopal News Service

“The budget is built upon the foundation of our continuing ministries as a church and our commitments to others both within and beyond our church,” Maine Bishop Steve Lane, vice chair of PB&F, told the joint session. “It is built upon our ongoing commitment to conciliar governance, and the legal, financial and other services of the Church Center [the denominational offices in Manhattan].”

Deputies and bishops have requested 39 task forces, standing commissions or other interim bodies and several new staff positions exceeded available revenue by more than $15 million. “This General Convention clearly has been in a spending mood,” Lane said. “These proposals had the impact of pitting the three pillars against other work considered by some to be important or essential.”

Lane said it was clear to the committee that “our church has not yet lived into the culture of leaner and lower, that is, of reducing the bureaucracy of the church, as we decided in the last triennium in response to the Task Force for Reimagining the Episcopal Church (TREC) report, and in pushing ministry work closer to the ground, closer to the parishes which are the heart of our institutional life.”

He added that “many have grieved the loss of particular churchwide ministry offices and programs and have sought to re-establish them at this convention. PB&F has heard these pleas, and the budget reflects our efforts to respond” while trying to control costs and ground spending around the three pillars.

PB&F had three principles guiding its work in considering those spending requests, according to Lane and Miles. The first was not to expand staff except only where major new work requires it. The second was to favor the creation of networks and time-limited task forces, rather than new canonically required standing commissions. And, third, the committee focused on keeping money in dioceses by preserving the assessment rate at 15 percent “to control total spending so that our commitment to ministry at the local level is maintained and expanded,” Lane said.

The proposed budget was presented on July 11 to a joint session of the House of Bishops and House of Deputies. Photo: Mike Patterson/Episcopal News Service

The budget’s sources of income

The budget is based on a number of income sources, beginning with diocesan contributions, which will be mandatory for the first time in the church’s history, based on a 2015 General Convention decision. If all 109 dioceses and three regional areas pay the required 15 percent, there would be $88,855,970 available. That amount assumes annual diocesan income growth of a half percent.

Full ENS coverage of the 79th meeting of General Convention is availableÂ here.

Each year’s annual giving in the three-year budget is based on a percentage of each diocese’s income two years earlier. PB&F’s draft budget allows dioceses to exempt $140,000 of income from their assessment calculation. The exemption was $150,000 during the 2012-2015 triennium.

Not all dioceses pay the full asking for a variety of reasons. Diocesan commitments for 2016 and 2017 are here. Dioceses may ask for full or partial waivers and Lane said only 19 dioceses are asking for those waivers and $5.5 million is in PB&F’s proposed budget to account for those waivers for up to 20 dioceses.

Without getting a waiver, a diocese that does not pay the full assessment will be unable to get grants or loans from the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society (the name under which the Episcopal Church is incorporated, conducts business and carries out mission).

The dioceses have moved from 40 percent paying at the full rate to more than 80 percent, bringing in $10 million in additional income, Lane said.

He offered “profound thanks to the laity, deacons, priests and bishops of our church.” The 15 percent assessment rate was meant “to make the support requested from the dioceses more affordable and to keep more money in diocesan budgets.” In return, dioceses were asked to work toward full participation.

“This is one of the best things to happen in our financial life in many years, and I hope we can celebrate this expression of our unity and our common commitment to ministry,” Lane said

Additional major amounts of income are anticipated from these sources:

$31.7 million from a five percent draw on interest on the unrestricted assets in the DFMS’ investments. The draw is reduced from the current 5.8 percent. “We do believe it is essential to protect the invested funds of the church in a time of market volatility,” Lane said. The 5.8 percent draw has cut the DMFS’ short-term operating reserve to two months of operating income. PB&F wants to rebuild that cushion to six months. The amount of anticipated assumes an annual investment return of 7.5 percent this year and next. Another $675,000 with come from trusts.

$9.8 million from leasing five- and one -half floors plus the currently vacant former bookstore space in the Episcopal Church Center in Manhattan.

$4.4 million from events and programs, including nearly $2 million from Episcopal Migration Ministries’ refugee loan program (used to offset the costs of that program and help other EMM work) and $1.3 million from General Convention (also offset by the costs of staging the convention).

$1 million from the new Annual Appeal. PB&F members have pledged to make annual donations “and we ask you to do the same,” committee chair Barbara Miles said.

$1 million will come from the 2016-2018 budget draw from the DFMS’ short-term reserves for racial reconciliation. That work did not begin in earnest until mid-2017 and, thus, the original draw has not been spent.

The document also summarizes other major categories of spending:

$28 million for ministry with the Episcopal Church

$19.3 million on finance and development

$18.7 million on governance costs

$17.4 million on DMFS operations

$17.2 million for ministry outside the Episcopal Church

$13 million for the work of the presiding bishop’s office

$3.6 million on legal expenses

The version of the budget posted on the convention’s Virtual Binder includes a 41-category summary of spending and income.

Miles noted that while the budget calls for new staff support for evangelism, racial reconciliation and creation care, “these positions have been created by reassigning or expanding the work of existing staff persons” with no increase in the total number of staff members.

Joe McDaniel, deputy from the Central Gulf Coast, poses a question to members of the Program, Budget and Finance Committee. Photo: Mike Patterson/Episcopal News Service

There’s no money in the budget for any form of prayer book revision, which is an as yet-undecided issue at convention. “We did not think it good stewardship to set aside a large sum as an escrow for something we weren’t sure would take place,” Lane said. “And a token amount seemed disrespectful to the task should it be adopted. Therefore, we reserved nothing in the budget for prayer book revision or for staff.”

PB&F left it to Executive Council, the officers of the church, and the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music “to design a budget and funding process for the work” the convention eventually calls for, according to Lane. The budget does include $201,000 for what it calls “improved translation of current prayer book.”

“We could not predict how the church will ultimately move on prayer book revision,” he said. “After lengthy conversation, we determined that purring aside a large amount of money for something that wasn’t certain was poor stewardship and putting in a token amount was disrespectful of intended work.”

As required by the convention’s Joint Rules, PB&F’s proposed budget was presented to a joint session of the Houses of Bishops and Deputies. The two houses will debate and vote on it separately. Deputies will do that the morning of July 12 and the bishops are expected to do the same the next morning. Both houses must approve the same version of the budget, which takes effect at the beginning of 2019.

Miles and Lane closed their presentation with a recommendation. “It has become clear that the work shared between the Executive Council and Program, Budget and Finance needs to be re-balanced,” Lane said. “Even though collaboration between the Executive Council and PB&F has been very good in this triennium, there is a desire for PB&F to take a greater role during the triennia and to build the budget in a manner that is more accessible and allows for greater participation beyond Executive Council.”

“We believe there is a place for greater public conversation as the budget develops,” Lane added.

Bishops raise their hands to oppose Resolution D019, which sought to end the church’s financial complicity in the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. The resolution failed, 48-78. Photo: David Paulsen/Episcopal News Service

Other resolutions relating to Israel and Palestine are still in play at the 79th General Convention and may still win passage. Northern California Bishop Barry Beisner, chair of the Social Justice and International Policy Committee, told Episcopal News Service after the bishops’ July 11 vote against Resolution D019 that the remaining resolutions, though perhaps “no less emotional” are not quite as “complicated.”

Bishops and deputies on both sides of the issue spoke strongly about Resolution D019 this week, but the votes of the two houses ended with opposite results. The Deputies approved the resolution with 74 percent in favor, while the bishops’ vote was 48-78, or 62 percent against the resolution.

Resolution D019 would have asked Executive Council, based on 70 years of church policy toward the Middle East conflict, to research and develop a plan by 2019 for a “human rights investment screen,” which critics described as a dangerous divestment from Israel.

“Divestment will not move us one inch forward in the peace process. It will not bring an end to the occupation. It will not lead us to the solution that we all yearn for, which is two states living side by side in peace within secure borders,” said retired Bishop Ed Little, of Diocese of Northern Indiana, who was one of six bishops to speak against the resolution before the vote.

The resolution’s defeat served as a sudden punctuation to a week of open and often passionate debate on a range of issues related to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. General Convention is considering how the Episcopal Church should respond to what many see as an escalating humanitarian crisis in the region.

Nearly 50 people testified at a committee hearing on those issues held July 6 in the JW Marriott, part of an expedited process recommended by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, House of Deputies president. Their recommendations, including the designation of the House of Deputies as the house of initial action, were intended to ensure full, open and productive discussions after complaints about the process for considering Israel-Palestine resolutions at the 2015 General Convention, when the bishops’ vote against a similar measure meant it never got to the deputies for consideration.

General Convention has voted in support of Middle East peace for decades. This year, the international policy committee submitted D019 for a special order of business in the House of Deputies, recognizing it as the most controversial of more than a dozen related resolutions, including some assigned to the Stewardship & Socially Responsible Investing Committee. The special order meant that discussion on the floor July 9 could not be sidelined by procedural hurdles.

“Let this be finally the convention where we say we will no longer allow our financial resources to enable this brutal occupation,” said Brian Grieves, the resolution’s proposer and a deputy from Hawaii, before the deputies voted, 619-214, to send D019 to the bishops.

But the contrast in tone two days later was evident immediately in the House of Bishops.

Little warned that divestment would do “irreparable damage” to the church’s relations with Israel. Bishop Scott Barker of Nebraska acknowledged “the unendurable weight shouldered by the Palestinians who live under Israeli occupation” but also warned of persistent, if not widespread, claims in the occupied territories that Israel has no right to exist.

“I would be all for proactive investment in the Palestinian territories … but actions to boycott, divest from or sanction Israel alone as the antagonist in this story no longer makes sense to me.” He said. “That for me is an oversimplification of a complex reality.”

Los Angeles Bishop John Taylor joined them in opposing the resolution, saying although the Israeli occupation “is impossible to defend,” the two alternatives, annexation or withdrawal, would be “catastrophic.”

“Better to step up our constructive engagement throughout the region, doing everything we can as a church to build up economic social and political infrastructure in Palestine for the sake of the Palestinian people,” Taylor said.

Several bishops spoke in favor of the resolution, including Bishop Marc Andrus of the Diocese of California. He said many of the arguments against divestment “are based in a false equivalency.”

“All human lives are infinitely precious,” Andrus said, and too many lives have been lost on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But he said there is no denying the decades-old conflict’s deadly toll has disproportionately affected Palestinians, by a factor of three to one. He called passage of tougher measures “a long time coming.”

Bishop Suffragan Gayle Harris of Massachusetts and Newark Bishop Mark Beckwith spoke in favor of the resolution, focusing on the Episcopal Church’s investments in companies that support or provide infrastructure assistance for the occupation, such as construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar and telecommunications company Motorola. Both companies already are targets of shareholder advocacy by the church’s Executive Council.

Resolution D019 “calls us, as I read it, to investigate who is profiting from the tragedy in the Middle East,” Beckwith said.

“It directs us to look at how we are participating, both silently and financially, into a system that degrades people,” Harris said. “This is our act, our conscience, our sense of justice. … Our sense of who we are as a people of Christ is tied with this resolution.”

But South Dakota Bishop John Tarrant, in opposing the resolution, took issue with the process, which he still found lacking.

“It must have been a dream, but I thought I’d read somewhere that we were going to have open conversation about this very complex issue, with people speaking from both sides that were knowledgeable,” Tarrant said. “I think that this complex issue needs a greater forum than a quick legislative session.”

During a break in the legislative session after the vote, Beisner told ENS he thought those who described the resolution derisively as “BDS,” or boycott, divest and sanction, “were getting ahead of things.”

“I certainly agree that it deserves a more spacious and careful consideration than our cramped legislative process allows,” Beisner said. “Of course, one of the hopes was that Executive Council would be the place where that might happen. That was the point of D019.”

The other resolutions making their way through the House of Deputies relate to treatment of Palestinian children, Israel’s use of lethal force against unarmed Palestinians, the system of apartheid between Israelis and Palestinians, Israeli laws that deprive Palestinians of civil rights and the ability of U.S. companies to boycott Israel in protest of its occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Those resolutions were recommended by committee members from both the House of Bishops and House of Deputies, though it remains to be seen which, if any, clear both houses. The deputies could vote later July 11 if the resolutions aren’t delayed by other matters.

President of the House of Deputies the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings July 11 welcomed Cuba Bishop Griselda Delgado del Carpio and the Episcopal Church of Cuba back into the Episcopal Church. The Rev. Gerardo Lojildes, Delgado’s husband, held an American flag, and Mayelin Aqueda, president of the Episcopal Church Women, held a Cuban flag. Photo: Lynette Wilson/Episcopal News Service

[Episcopal News Service – Austin, Texas] “Welcome home,” said House of Deputies President the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings following a July 11 unanimous vote by deputies to concur with the House of Bishops and admit the Episcopal Church of Cuba as a diocese.

Following testimony that was cut short because no one had signed up to testify against admitting the diocese, Jennings called for a moment of silence before the historic vote. The Diocese of Cuba is set to join Province II, which includes dioceses from New York and New Jersey in the United States, Haiti and the Virgin Islands.

Immediately following the House of Bishop’s July 10 vote, Cuba Bishop Griselda Delgado del Carpio was seated in the House of Bishops. Immediately following the July 11 vote, the Rev. Gerardo Lojildes, who in addition to his ministry oversees construction at Camp Blankenship, an Episcopal camp in Cuba, and Mayelin Aqueda, president of the Episcopal Church Women in Cuba, were seated as deputies between the dioceses of Venezuela and Puerto Rico.

Following the vote and a prolonged standing ovation, Jennings invited to Delgado to address the house.”Right now I feel that the Holy Spirit is blowing on this entire convention and that it is moving: It’s moving here for all of us to really work with it in this very difficult world to make sure that we fulfill the needs of this world,” said Delgado through a Spanish-language interpreter.

“We meet like this in convention to put the family in order; that’s what’s behind it. And this is done so that we can welcome everyone.”

More coverage of the 79th General Convention’s actions to admit the Episcopal Church of Cuba as a diocese joining Province II is here.

[Episcopal News Service – Austin, Texas] Much happens each day during General Convention. To complement Episcopal News Service’s primary coverage, we have collected some additional news items from July 11.

Lynette Wilson, reporter and managing editor for Episcopal News Service, interviewed Cuba Bishop Griselda Delgado del Carpio and Western North Carolina Bishop Jose McGlouglin about the House of Bishops’ and House of Deputies’ historic vote to admit the Episcopal Church in Cuba as a diocese.

What once was lost can now be found

With as many as 10,000 busy people scurrying around the Austin Convention Center and surrounding hotels for committee meetings, legislative sessions, Exhibit Hall shopping and chance encounters with friends, it’s inevitable that some of them will misplace some of their belongings. Some of that paraphernalia winds up lining the counter of the Information Center.

The size of the lost water bottles collection waxes and wanes as people come to the Information Center to claim their hydration device. Photo: Mary Frances Schjonberg/Episcopal News Service

With participants being warned to keep hydrated under the blazing Texas sun, water bottles and sunglasses are the most common stragglers, according to volunteer Louise Horner of Marysville, Missouri. Two folding hand fans were in the lost and found the morning of July 11.

Horner said the Information Center volunteers also have a small collection of single earrings.

Some larger items go astray at times. Volunteer Beth Deleery of Austin said one participant jokingly stopped by to see if the volunteers could look for her spouse.=

And, ever the theologians, some convention participants, invoking the information services of the booth, have asked if any of the volunteers know the meaning of life.

— Mary Frances Schjonberg

Mothers, babies reunited on House of Deputies floor

The Rev. Jenny Replogle, Chicago, speaks in favor of Resolution D087 while holding her son Rowan. Photo: Canticle Communications

A July 5 misunderstanding of the Rules of Order that allowed for the President of the House of Deputies’ discretion to permit babies to accompany deputies onto the floor has been clarified by the passing of Resolution D087 on July 11 of the 79thGeneral Convention. The resolution spells out who is permitted on the floor, and now includes “infants under 1 year of age with a parent or guardian who is a deputy; children over 1 year old who require nursing or bottle-feeding only while feeding; and caregivers of children to bring a child to a feeding parent when the child needs to be fed, escorted in and out as directed by the President.” A “designated feeding area” will be present on the house floor that provides for voting access, but a parent will not be required to use it.

– Sharon Tillman

Bishops approve task force on theology of social justice

The House of Bishops, meeting during the 79thGeneral Convention, on July 11 adopted a resolution that attempts to answer the question of how social justice fits into the mission and ministry of the Episcopal Church. Resolution A056 directs the presiding bishop and president of the House of Deputies to appoint a Task Force on the Theology of Social Justice Advocacy as Christian Justice. The bishops approved the resolution without debate.

If the $15,000 that is requested for the work is allocated, the committee would be tasked over the next three years to consider scripture, approved liturgical resources, other theological texts and previous actions of General Conventions to summarize ways in which the Episcopal Church understands the work of social justice as an essential mission and ministry of the Christian church.The resolution also directs that the task force study how the Episcopal Church currently fosters theological understanding and leadership for social justice as well as recommend ways to foster theological and practical conversation on social justice.